This has been one of the prettiest falls I can remember. The trees this year have had absolutely brilliant color. In addition, we haven’t had any really strong winds or rains to knock the leaves out of the trees so the leaves have fallen slowly over time which has maximized the color in the area. Read more...

We’re two weeks into September and with summer all but completely behind us, the kids are both starting new classes. Read more...

This is a hot sauce I bought off the Clearance shelf at Hy-Vee on a whim.

Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much out of it. It surprised me, however. Read more...

I quickly put together a video of the kids midway through 2014. It’s longer than the others I’ve posted in the past but still amusing at times. Read more...

The 4th of July found us in the Cleveland, Ohio, area this year.

We left Madison on Wednesday and headed east. Last year, we had stopped at Pokagon State Park outside of Angola, IN, on our way back from Cleveland to eat our lunch and let the kids burn off some steam. The park apparently left us with a good impress because our plan this time was to spend the night there before finishing the always long drive to Cleveland. Read more...

In late spring, a beer appears on the shelves that I buy the very first time I see it, no matter if I could get it somewhere cheaper. New Glarus Brewing Company’s Dancing Man Wheat is an outstanding beer and the only beer I buy in cases. Read more...

Last weekend Sarah and I took the dog and the kids camping at Blue Mound State Park. We made the reservation for a campsite in April and the kids were really excited to go. After getting a new, bigger tent; a new air mattress; and taking a dry run for a night in the back yard, everything seemed to be set.
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I had a really nice day on Father’s Day this year.

Sarah, my mom, the kids and I drove up to the Wisconsin Dells to take a ride on one of the Original Wisconsin Ducks. If you’ve seen so-called Ducks anywhere else, you know that they are amphibious vehicles re-purposed after WWII into tourist vehicles. In this case, the vehicles take customers for a ride through the woods, down into the Wisconsin River, up across a spit of land into Lake Delton, and then back across some land to the original embarkation point. Read more...

Today is the last day of Garrison’s 4K year. To use a trite phrase, “My, how time flies.” It seems like just a few weeks ago that we were putting him on the bus for the first time. He has definitely learned more about language, spelling, and math during his time in 4K and has made friends as well. He had the usual issues with getting out of the door in the morning that kids his age have, but they were never due to a lack of desire to get to school. Read more...

On my Twitter feed one day, I saw that Tobasco was offering up bottles of their Family Reserve. Having never heard of that before, I did some research and found that I definitely wanted to get some, if I could.

The last time this stuff was available (as near as I can tell) was three years ago and even this time there is a limited run of bottles available.

Tobasco Family Reserve is aged a minimum of eight years, compared to the three normal Tobasco sauce receives. And the price reflects that. I paid almost $30 for just two bottles after shipping and handling was added to the price.

Is it worth it?

It’s probably hard to say whether or not the stuff is worth several times the cost of a normal bottle of Tobasco.

It is good hot sauce, however. Most of the vinegar tang usually associated with Tobasco is gone and the heat is much higher. In addition, the flavor is fuller, rounder with more pepper flavor in the absence of the vinegar flavor.

I’m glad I bought it and I’m doubly glad that I bought two bottles. Is it worth $15/bottle. That question is still up in the air.